Diablo 3 won't have PvP at launch, reveals Blizzard

Single-player release-date still impending, promises developer

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Here's some good news and bad news for fans eagerly awaiting Diablo III. “We’re counting down the days until we’re ready to announce a release date,” promises lead developer Jay Wilson, and you'll have the single-player game before too long. However, as you may've caught from our careful wording of the above (that being the Good News portion), something's got to give in order to get the game to you in a timely fashion. That something is the game's PvP section.

“We wanted to let you know that we’ve made the difficult decision to hold back the PvP Arena system,” says Wilson in a new blog post, “and release it in a patch following the game’s launch.” While the single-player game sits tantalizingly close to release-readiness, Wilson says his team's “come to realize that the PvP game and systems aren’t yet living up to our standards.” This is Blizzard, remember: high standards are what got you hankering for the title in the first damn place.

“We know a lot of you are looking forward to PvP,” consoles Wilson, “and we’ll be focusing our post-launch efforts on making sure the Arenas are brutal, bloody, fast-paced, and awesome.” To this end, the PvP patch will add a host of themed maps, mode-centric achievements, matchmaking and personalized progression systems. And hey, remember that good news? Diablo III will be getting a release date soon, and you'll be honing your PvP skills in the single-player campaign not long after...